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Welcome to our new website which is currently being updated. Please bare with us while we update each section.
Safe Start School Team
Grace Speakman
Head Teacher
Our Head Teacher, Grace Speakman, has worked in education since 2003 with experience from Early Years to Post-16 settings, working with children in both mainstream and SEN provision. Grace has dedicated her career to working with children and education, feeling incredibly lucky to have been able to support so many families over those years.
As a founding member of the Safe Start team, Grace feels passionately about giving children and young people the skills, resilience and confidence they need to become happy and successful adults in our ever-changing society. Not every child can easily conform to the requirements of a mainstream education and some students need a specialised and bespoke education offer for them to be able to access a broad and balanced curriculum.
Grace aims to create a nurturing culture at our school; leading a team of highly skilled and caring professionals to support children to develop a love of learning and learning how to overcome any barriers that have previously faced in education, allowing them the opportunity to learn and achieve, in a safe environment.
She is very proud of our school community and recognises the important role we play in supporting our students to re-engage with learning, make friends, express difficult feelings safely and prepare for the next stage of their education
Kate Collins
Assistant Head Teacher- Curriculum and SEN (BA HONS, QTS)
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I have worked in education for over 12 years, working with pupils from year 1 up to university level.
This experience has enabled me to have a strong understanding of sequential teaching, starting
points for the pupils and what we as a school and a team can put into place to support our pupils in
accessing their full potential. Covering such a broad spectrum of education, like other members of
our teaching team, means that we have a strong pool of teaching strategies that we can share and
use to best engage our learners.
It is our aim to motivate, inspire, and enable our pupils to believe and achieve their full potential.
We want our learners to develop a love of learning, whether that be academic, vocational, or
creative. To support this, we offer ASDAN short courses, foundation topics, vocational opportunities
(on-site and off-site) and access to national curriculum and functional skills learning.
Our team and pupils build trusting, professional and respectful relationships, enhancing the whole
school experience. It is a pleasure to be a part of such a wonderful team and school.
In my spare time I enjoy acting and spending time with family and friends.
Adele Noble
SENCO
My name is Adele, I have an undergraduate degree in English Literature, a postgraduate certificate of education with qualified teacher status and I am currently studying towards my NASENCO qualification.
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I have worked in the education setting for over 10 years in a variety of settings and with all age groups from EYFS to KS4. My passion for SEN began at the start of my career as I took the role as a Nurture teacher in a mainstream school. Here I learnt how to adapt my teaching practice to suit a variety of learning needs and I developed into a teacher that consistently teaches with compassion, empathy and respect.
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As my career has progressed so has my leadership skills and I am proud to be the SENCO for Safe Start School. As the SENCO I ensure that every student is seen for the individual they are. I believe that each of our students has the skill set to reach their full potential, and so it is my job to help and support them on their journey to ensure their needs are met and that their voice is always heard.
Rachel Duffy
HR and Adminstration Manager
I joined Safestart School nearly 12 months ago.
I have a wealth of experience within the Administration, Finance and Human Resources Sectors.
My aim is to support the school with all areas of Human Resources and Health and Safety to provide a happy and safe environment to everyone who spends time at Safestart School.
I help support the Headteacher to ensure the school is running compliantly following their policies and procedures, and that the staff are trained adequately and use their skills to provide an excellent learning environment for our children. I am invested in Safestart School, the children and the staff are at the 'heart' of everything we do.
Cherly McDonald
Vocation and Work Placement Lead
I have joined Safestart to develop the Outreach programme and introduce a Vocational aspect into our offer.
I have been in Education for 25 years.
My passion is ensuring all young people grow and aspire to do well and progress well.
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